DETROIT _ Tommy Hunter has thrown his last pitch for the Phillies this season and possibly for good.
Hunter had surgery Tuesday to repair the flexor tendon in his right arm. Dr. James Andrews performed the season-ending procedure, during which he determined that the ulnar collateral ligament in Hunter's elbow was not damaged, according to manager Gabe Kapler.
The Phillies signed Hunter to a two-year, $18 million contract before last season. He posted a 3.80 ERA and 51 strikeouts in 64 innings last season, but he injured his flexor tendon in spring training and was limited this year to only 5 1/3 scoreless innings over five appearances.
"It's tough," Kapler said. "If you think about how we viewed him in 2019, it was among our highest-leverage relievers who could get left-handed hitters and right-handed hitters out and give us multiple innings. We have been without that in our pen, which has hurt us, and we're going to have to be without that going forward, which will be a challenge."
The Phillies have been unlucky with signing free-agent relievers over the last few years.
Pat Neshek (two years, $16.25 million before last season) and David Robertson (two years, $23 million before this year) have combined to make only 27 appearances this season. Neshek won't pitch again until at least September and could be out for the rest of the season with a groin injury. Robertson, sidelined since April with a flexor strain, is scheduled to throw live batting practice Wednesday at the Phillies' spring-training facility in Clearwater, Fla., and won't return until at least next month.
"The bullpen in general hasn't performed the way we would've hoped, and certainly that's been a function of injury," general manager Matt Klentak said. "The part that makes it difficult is that there have been a variety of different types of injuries. It's not just one thing that they all have that could be relatively diagnosable about why it's happening. There have been a laundry list of different types of injuries."
